Green light given to new Centre for Research & Development

Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to announce plans to establish a new Centre for Research and Development (R&D). This new centre will be opened on 17 April 2013, by Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer for England.

The aim of the centre will be to improve the patient experience with the services offered. By supporting and encouraging staff to own the research and development centre, staff will be supported not only in research but also with the implementation of their work.

The Centre for R&D will be located at the Trust’s Education Centre, on the Kingsway Site in Derby, and will focus on building upon the Trust’s existing compassion research profile as well as bringing together other strands of research activity already being undertaken.

‘Centres of Excellence’, will also be established which will be housed within the Centre for R&D, and will focus on programmes of research supporting the Trust’s strategic direction. Each centre will provide academic and clinical leadership, delivering improvements in patient experience and outcomes, ultimately leading to service improvements via pathways of care. The development of these new Centres of Excellence is expected to follow the already established structure of the Centre for Compassion, led by Professor Paul Gilbert OBE.

Paul Lumsdon, Chief Nurse at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, who will lead this project, said: “The Trust puts quality at the heart of everything we do. It is recognised that the Trust has developed research based on the work of some keen individuals, and the new centre will allow us to bring this all together and provide positive benefits to staff and patients.”

Paul added: “The Centre for Research & Development will look to take forward and enhance areas of research such as compassion, and in the future may focus on recovery and dementia. It will support the Trust’s values and operate within our quality framework, promoting a culture of compassion and coaching.”

An Implementation Board, led by Paul Lumsdon has been established to oversee the strategic direction and set-up of the Centre for R&D, and will become operational from April 2013.